W.H. Auden said- Poetry makes nothing happen...
in a poem he wrote as a homage to W.B. Yeats and most of us carry this line in mind
however the next lines of this poem are as follows--
For poetry makes nothing happen: it survives
In the valley of its making where executives
Would never want to tamper, flows on south
From ranches of isolation and the busy griefs,
Raw towns that we believe and die in; it survives,
A way of happening, a mouth.
and so has the poetry of Kalidasa written in about 5th century has survived.
Both Meghaduta and Ritusamhara are full of flowers, plants, animals, rivers, mountains, forests and clouds.
I think it is the power of poetry to operate at all sensory levels and change our consciousness gently that makes it such a powerful agent of change, including changing our mindset towards protecting environment.
Today is World Environment Day. First held in 1974, it has become a key campaign for raising awareness on major environmental issues being faced by the whole humanity and is celebrated across the globe with the participation of over 140 countries now annually. This year the theme for the World Environment Day is to Celebrate Biodiversity, and will be hosted in Colombia in partnership with Germany. Colombia is home to 10% of the planet’s biodiversity. As part of the Amazon rain forest, Colombia ranks first in bird and orchid species diversity and second in plants, butterflies, freshwater fish, and amphibians.
I wrote an Earth Anthem in 2008 which was released on the occasion of World Environment Day in 2013 at the Indian Council of Cultural Relations in New Delhi. Since then it has been translated into over 50 languages spoken across the globe and used by a large number of schools worldwide to celebrate World Environment Day and Earth Day. Here are the words of the Earth Anthem --
Our cosmic oasis, cosmic blue pearl
the most beautiful planet in the universe
all the continents and all the oceans
united we stand as flora and fauna
united we stand as species of one earth
different cultures, beliefs and ways
we are humans, the earth is our home
all the people and the nations of the world
all for one and one for all
united we unfurl the blue marble flag.
Please note these words-- 'all the continents and all the oceans/united we stand as flora and fauna/ united we stand as species of one Earth'
This is key to our survival. Staying united. Staying united as species of one Earth, not just humanity.
Recently, the United Nations played Earth Anthem to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day in April this year and later in a global online meeting on Global Citizenship hosted by Universidad Ana G. Méndez in Puerto Rico, which shows the importance of poetry in inculcating a sense of global citizenship and protecting our planet.
We can see it clearly, wherever we come from, we share our planet in common. And letting this sense of a shared planetary identity and a sense of responsibility to protect biodiversity, is what poetry can instill in us, in the coming generations.
The first sentence of the preamble of UNESCO constitution states-- 'Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed'. The UNESCO website states- 'In 1945, UNESCO was created in order to respond to the firm belief of nations, forged by two world wars in less than a generation that political and economic agreements are not enough to build a lasting peace. Peace must be established on the basis of humanity’s moral and intellectual solidarity.' Today as we face the greatest challenge of the survival of life and life supporting systems in the history of our planet with runaway Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss and Extinction of Species, we must forge a new environmental and ecological solidarity and establish a new consciousness and new defenses in the minds of children, women and men to deal with these two unprecedented challenges of Climate Change and Biodiversity loss. And what's a better way to create a new consciousness and to build new defenses but to read, recite and write poetry about our fellow species, the silent nations, who do not have a voice in human affairs, in the affairs of the nation-state or the United Nations. Poets must become the voice of these voiceless. Poets should represent them in the Parliaments of Nations and the United Nations General Assembly. This is why I propose that UNESCO should establish the institution of a Poet Laureate for the Planet or Planet Poet Laureate or Earth Poet Laureate who can be the poetic voice of the planet, not just of the humanity but all the species who share our planet with us. This will complement UNESCO's initiative to celebrate 21st March as the World Poetry Day since 1999.
Similarly, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts could also consider to create an institution of an Indian Poet Laureate, may be on the lines of US Poet Laureate where the poet laureate is a consultant at the Library of Congress in Washington DC.
Earlier I had written in 2018, why we need a National Poetry Library and the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts could be the ideal place to host such a library.
The beauty and richness of poetry born out of India's numerous languages is truly mind-boggling and needs to be taken to the rest of the world through translation into the most spoken languages. I realised this while editing an anthology of 100 great Indian poems from 28 of the languages spoken in the country. Most of the works in the anthology come from regional languages.
We need to collect poetry books published across the country, in all languages, at a central poetry library, and translate and publish the best of Indian poetry every year. The poetry library could also double up as the central translation centre taking Indian poetry to the world. In India, the diversity of languages is remarkable and worth preserving — this must be done by letting poets and writers assert their linguistic identities. A central poetry library at IGNCA can help make this possible by hosting regular readings by poets from different parts of India, purchasing their poetry collections and hosting annual national and international poetry festivals. The chief poetry consultant of the Poetry Library could also act as the poet-laureate of India, who could travel across the country to inculcate higher conscious towards reading and writing of poetry.
Coming back to the works of Kalidasa,
Meghaduta is full of detailed descriptions of flora and fauna of the central and north India as well as of its hills, rivers, mountains, legends, beliefs, traditions, mythologies, rituals, high erotica among others. I have tried my best to preserve the names of the plants and animals, rivers, hills and mountains, traditions and styles, as in the original Sanskrit text of Kalidasa giving their modern names in the notes below each stanza in which they appear. I think it is very important to keep their original names least we forget them and lose these treasures.
Meghaduta creates a complete magical world in itself full of sylphs, nymphs, spirits, eight-legged animal, the wish fulfilling tree, various kinds of drums, celestial elephants, birds, rare flowers, fruits, plants and trees who help the cloud in his journey to deliver the Yaksha's message to his young wife.
The secret of Meghaduta’s continued relevance even today, in my view, is its focus on sensual love and the nature’s beauty, the two subjects which are eternally interesting to us and Kalidasa’s genius to make them flow into each other. For example, who but Kalidasa can imagine the rivers as a sensuous women, advising his friend cloud to take interest in rivers along the way on his journey from the central Indian plains to the Himalayas—
तस्याः किंचित्करधृतमिव प्राप्तवानीरशाखं
हृत्वा नीलं सलिलवसनं मुक्तरोधोनितम्बम
प्रस्थानं ते कथम अपि सखे लम्बमानस्य भावि
ज्ञातास्वादो विवृतजघनां को विहातुं समर्थः॥४१॥
Like the slender arms of the lady river
Vanira branches reach out to take away her
water garment and expose her thighs, the banks.
O friend, of course it would take long for you
to depart, for who has the strength to leave
a woman after relishing her bare thighs? (41)
हस्ते लीलाकमलम अलके बालकुन्दानुविद्धं
नीता रोध्रप्रसवरजसा पाण्डुताम आनने श्रीः
चूडापाशे नवकुरवकं चारु कर्णे शिरीषं
सीमन्ते च त्वदुपगमजं यत्र नीपं वधूनाम॥६५॥
There, a woman plays with a red lotus in her hand,
freshly bloomed Kunda in her hair, her graceful face
painted fair with the pollen of Rodhra, her braid tied
with fresh Kurabaka, Sirisa in her pretty ears, and
Nipa at her hair-parting, blossomed on your arrival. (65)
This love poem would be unimaginable without all the plants and fragrant flowers described in detail by Kalidasa. This is why Meghaduta should be of interest to the contemporary readers as we deal with biodiversity loss and climate change today. Can we use the imagery/idea of nature as a sensual being presented by Kalidasa in Meghaduta to change the way we see nature—from mother to beloved, from revering it to loving it and from being separate to being part of it? Can it help us in protecting nature if we see clouds, rivers, plants, trees and animals as sensual beings?
Meghaduta also highlights the importance of flowers, plants, animal, seasons, rain, rainbow, wind, sun, moon, stars, stones, rivers, mountains among others things—animate and inanimate in our love lives, without whom we would be reduced merely as bio-robots obsessed with numbers and statistics, dealing with various kind of growth rates, and living a dismal life on a planet marred by loss of biodiversity and extreme climatic events.
Would such a life without plants and animals be worth living? That's the question we all need to ask. What would be our poetry about then?
I see Kalidasa as an